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Watch a man's reactions to the modern world after spending the last half-century in prison.

Otis Johnson was released from prison in 2014 after serving a 44-year sentence.

He was locked up at age 25 for the attempted murder of a police officer. As you can imagine, walking free at 69 was like stepping out of a time capsule.

All images via Al-Jazeera English/YouTube.

And what wackier place is there to rejoin society — after almost half a century of relative isolation — than New York City?

The world he knew before prison is just a memory.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, he reflected on how much things have changed.

During a visit to Times Square, Johnson recalled streetscapes commanded by towering buildings and animated by the bustle of people.

Today, however, his city gaze is drawn by something ... different.

"I ain't never seen nothing like this before," he said as he nodded toward the digital ads illuminating Times Square with the gospel of consumerism. "Look. On the windows? We ain't seen nothing on no windows but people. Walking by. Not no video."

Johnson noticed something peculiar about people, too.

"I seen that ... the majority of the people was talking to themselves," he said, noting how many people had electronic devices in their ears. "What, everybody became CIA or agents and stuff like that?"

It may seem odd that Johnson isn't at least vaguely familiar with these advancements in consumer technology. But bear in mind that he lost contact with his family in 1998 and didn't have anyone else on the outside to keep him up to speed.

And speaking of phones, he learned an important lesson about modern telecoms the day he walked out of the clink: No one uses pay phones anymore.

Johnson was also overwhelmed by what he saw at grocery stores — the explosion of food options and the colorful and bizarre concoctions that didn't exist 44 years ago.

"I eat different things now. Because I'm looking at all this crazy stuff they got. ... The peanut butter. It had jelly in it. And I never seen nothing like that before."

Actually, a lot of us still find it odd.

Johnson is happy to be free, but there's a lot we can learn from his release from the prison system.

He left prison with the oh-so-generous parting gifts of $40, an ID, two bus tickets, and some paperwork. (Wow, New York. You shouldn't have.)

And without a family to come home to, Johnson gets by with help from The Fortune Society, a nonprofit that helps ex-cons find their way in life after incarceration.

According to Al-Jazeera, folks like Johnson who are released after serving at least 20 years represented less than a percent of all state prisoners in 2013. Because of the rarity of their cases, they're more likely to fall through cracks in the system.

But Johnson is determined to make the most of his freedom:

"Holding on to anger will only stagnate your growth and development. ... Everything happens for a reason, I believe. So I let that go and deal with the future instead of dealing with the past. ... And that's how I survive in society."

Watch Al-Jazeera's profile of Otis Johnson:

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BigFuture
BigFuture Scholarships
Education

She fell in love with endangered porpoises at age 7. Now, she's on a mission to save the ocean.

True

When Rachel Heimke was seven, she realized what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Little did she know a $40,000 BigFuture Scholarship would help her pursue her dreams.

Heimke and her parents were living an unconventional lifestyle, to say the least. The summer after she completed first grade, she and her parents boarded a sailboat and sailed from their hometown in Alaska down the Pacific Coast. The family would spend the next two years traveling on the water, passing Mexico and then sailing across the world to Australia before returning home. It was on the sailboat, watching whales and dolphins breach the water under their boat, that Heimke realized her life’s purpose.

“I was really obsessed with these little porpoises called Vaquitta, who only live in one tiny area of water off the coast of Mexico,” she recalled. “When I learned about them as a kid, there were only 22 left in the wild. Now, there are only ten.” Despite her interest, Heimke was never able to actually see any Vaquitta on her trip, both because of their inherent shyness and because they were so critically endangered due to detrimental fishing policies in the area. “That was my wakeup call,” she says. “I’ll probably never be able to see this porpoise, and I don’t want that to be true of other species.”

Now a young woman of 23, Heimke is realizing her childhood dream of ocean conservation by recently graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in ocean sciences and enrolling in a grad program in Canada to study science communication. Heimke is well on her way to achieving her childhood dream—but she acknowledges that none of this would have been possible without her ocean adventures as a child, the support of her parents, and significant financial support.

At 18, when Heimke was deciding where to study ocean sciences, she stumbled upon an opportunity from BigFuture, College Board's free college and career planning site. The opportunity was the BigFuture Scholarship, which provided students the chance to win a $40,000 scholarship by completing six action items on the website. Heimke was intrigued, since she didn’t need to provide an essay, her GPA, or any test scores to enter. Her eligibility was also not tied to citizenship status or family income, so she decided to give it a shot.

“One of the action items was just going on the BigFuture site and creating a list of colleges I was interested in,” said Heimke. Another item required her to apply for financial aid through FAFSA—something Heimke was planning to do anyway. Every completed action item gave students more chances to win the scholarship, so Heimke completed all six action items quickly.

Months later, Heimke’s parents ushered her over to a call over Zoom, where she met a BigFuture representative who had some surprising news: She was one of 25 students who had won the $40,000 BigFuture college scholarship. Each year she would receive $10,000 in scholarship funding, which would cover her entire tuition bill for all four years of schooling.

“That experience taught me that it’s really important to not give up on your goals and just go for opportunities,” said Heimke. “I never thought I would win anything, but I’ve learned it's worth applying anyway. Even a small scholarship of $1,000 can pay your rent for a month,” she said. “And If you write an essay that takes an hour and you win $5,000, that’s probably the most money per hour you’ll ever make in your life.”

The tuition money made it possible for her to attend college, and for her to apply to graduate school immediately afterward without any financial burdens.

“Now that I’m in graduate school and paying for rent and a phone bill and graduate school tuition, it’s truly a blessing to not have student loan debt on top of that,” Heimke said. Because of the BigFuture scholarship, Heimke doesn’t need to pay for her graduate program either—she’s able to fund her education with the money her parents saved by not having to pay for her undergraduate degree.

One of the biggest blessings, Heimke said, was not needing to delay graduate school to work or find extra funds. With climate change worsening, entering the workforce becomes increasingly important over time.

“I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with my degrees, but I hope to have a lot of different jobs that ultimately will work toward saving our ocean,” she said.

As a child, witnessing marine life up close and personal was life-changing. Heimke’s goal is for future generations to have that experience, as she did.

To learn more and get started, visit bigfuture.org/scholarships.

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UPS driver has a blunt take on US economy after delivering this year's Christmas packages

It's the guys on the ground who notice things first.

via Elvert Barnes/Flickr

A UPS driver on a phone call.

Certain professions have an inside look at the economy because they’re on the ground floor and see things change firsthand. For example, the advertising business knows that a recession is coming six months ahead of time, and realtors often get a good idea of how the economy is changing before the shock hits everyone else.

Delivery drivers are another group of people who can get a good idea of how the average person is doing. They have more packages to deliver when the economy is doing well and fewer when things take a turn for the worse. That’s why a TikTok by UPS driver Donate McCauley (@dontaymccauley) has so many views. After delivering Christmas packages, he thinks things are going well for most people at the end of 2024.

“I thought everybody was broke. I thought we were trending towards a recession, and y’all been complaining all year about finances, and y'all say that until Christmas,” the UPS driver said in a video with over 100,000 views.

@dontaymccauley

credit card debt going crazy. #ups #peakseason #Texas #foryoupage

“I see y'all actually do got money. And y'all making us pay, for every house got, like, 3, 4 packages. I'm loaded up,” McCauley continued. “Every day I'm going out with 400 packages on this truck, and y'all killing us, man, give us a break. But I thought you ain't have no money, though?”

Is the U.S. economy good or bad in 2024?

The post received many comments; some said they are having difficulty getting by this year, while others say they are doing pretty well these days. It’s another example of the lukewarm way that people have viewed the U.S. economy since the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.

“Broke as in it costing me a whole helluva lot more to live than it should. I will always have money for Christmas one way or another,” Lisa Marie wrote. “We’re using After Pay. I did LOL,” Juanita added.

“I have been saying this ALL YEAR. Every restaurant, every tourist attraction, special event, and retail store is PACKED most of the time in my small ‘poor’ city,” SteelersGirl wrote. “I said this to my husband a few weeks ago. Everywhere I go, people are buying stuff. Car dealership was packed last week, too. The economy seems ok,” Wiat What wrote.

Another delivery driver chimed in, and she felt the same way as McCauley. “USPS here. I have been saying this for the last year,” ChicagoGirl wrote.



Are Americans spending more this holiday season?

The confused delivery driver who says that people are saying one thing but spending in another tracks a pre-election poll. A survey taken in September found that 62% of respondents said the economy was weak, while 38% said it was strong.

Regardless of how individuals feel about the economy, the numbers don’t lie. This was a strong holiday season for retailers. Visa says that spending is up this holiday season 4.8% over 2023. "This holiday shopping season, we’re seeing increasing consumer confidence as people sought out in-store experiences – and went online – to purchase gifts and celebrate the holidays with friends and family,” Wayne Best, chief economist at Visa, said in a statement. “This spending growth demonstrates the adaptability of both consumers and retailers and the overall strength of the economy.”

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What will Earth look like if all its land ice melts? Here's your answer.

Climate change isn't pretty.

via Business Insider Science/YouTube.

A map of the United States post land-ice melt.

Land ice: We got a lot of it. Considering the two largest ice sheets on earth — the one on Antarctica and the one on Greenland — extend more than 6 million square miles combined ... yeah, we're talkin' a lot of ice. But what if it was all just ... gone? Not like gone gone, but melted?

If all of earth's land ice melted, it would be nothing short of disastrous. And that's putting it lightly. This video by Business Insider Science (seen below) depicts exactly what our coastlines would look like if all the land ice melted. And spoiler alert: It isn't great. Lots of European cities like, Brussels and Venice, would be basically underwater.

In Africa and the Middle East? Dakar, Accra, Jeddah — gone.

Millions of people in Asia, in cities like Mumbai, Beijing, and Tokyo, would be uprooted and have to move inland.

South America would say goodbye to cities like Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.

And in the U.S., we'd watch places like Houston, San Francisco, and New York City — not to mention the entire state of Florida — slowly disappear into the sea.

All GIFs via Business Insider Science/YouTube.

Business Insider based these visuals off National Geographic's estimation that sea levels will rise 216 feet (!) if all of earth's land ice melted into our oceans.

There's even a tool where you can take a detailed look at how your community could be affected by rising seas, for better or worse.

Although ... looking at these maps, it's hard to imagine "for better" is a likely outcome for many of us.

Much of America's most populated regions would be severely affected by rising sea levels, as you'll notice exploring the map, created by Alex Tingle using data provided by NASA.

Take, for instance, the West Coast. (Goodbye, San Fran!)

Or the East Coast. (See ya, Philly!)

And the Gulf Coast. (RIP, Bourbon Street!)

I bring up the topic not just for funsies, of course, but because the maps above are real possibilities.

How? Climate change.

As we continue to burn fossil fuels for energy and emit carbon into our atmosphere, the planet gets warmer and warmer. And that, ladies and gentlemen, means melted ice.

A study published this past September by researchers in the U.S., U.K., and Germany found that if we don't change our ways, there's definitely enough fossil fuel resources available for us to completely melt the Antarctic ice sheet.

Basically, the self-inflicted disaster you see above is certainly within the realm of possibility.

"This would not happen overnight, but the mind-boggling point is that our actions today are changing the face of planet Earth as we know it and will continue to do so for tens of thousands of years to come," said lead author of the study Ricarda Winkelmann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

If we want to stop this from happening," she says, "we need to keep coal, gas, and oil in the ground."

The good news? Most of our coastlines are still intact! And they can stay that way, too — if we act now.

World leaders are finallystarting to treat climate change like the global crisis that it is — and you can help get the point across to them, too.

Check out Business Insider's video below:

This article originally appeared nine years ago.

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Woman's rare antique turned away from 'Antique Roadshow' for beautiful heart-wrenching reason

"I just love you for bringing it in and thank you so much for making me so sad."

Photos by Murat Rahim Caglak and Antoni Shkraba via Canva

Woman's antique turned away from 'Antique Roadshow'

People come by things in all sorts of ways. Sometimes you find something while at a garage sale and sometimes it's because a family member passed away and it was left to them. After coming into possession of the item, the owner may be tempted to see how much it's worth so it can be documented for insurance purposes or sold.

On a recent episode of BBC One's Antique Roadshow, a woman brought an ivory bracelet to be appraised. Interestingly enough, the expert didn't meet this rare find with excitement, but appeared somber. The antique expert, Ronnie Archer-Morgan carefully explains the purpose of the bracelet in what appears to be a tense emotional exchange.

There would be no appraisal of this antique ivory bracelet adorned with beautiful script around the circumference. Archer-Morgan gives a brief disclaimer that he and the Antique Roadshow disapprove of the trade of ivory, though that was not his reason for refusing the ivory bangle.

"This ivory bangle here is not about trading in ivory, it’s about trading in human life, and it’s probably one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to talk about. But talk about it we must," Archer-Morgan says.

Turns out the woman had no idea what she had in her possession as she purchased it from an estate sale over 30 years before. One of the elderly residents she cared for passed away and the woman found the ivory bracelet among the things being sold. Finding the bangle particularly intriguing with the fancy inscription around it, she decided to purchase the unique piece of jewelry.

After explaining that his great-grandmother was once enslaved in Nova Scotia, Canada before being returned to Sierra Leone, Archer-Morgan concluded he could not price the item.

"I just don’t want to value it. I do not want to put a price on something that signifies such an awful business. But the value is in the lessons that this can tell people," he tells the woman.

In the end the woman leaves without knowing the monetary value of the item but with a wealth of knowledge she didn't have before visiting. Now she can continue to share the significance of the antique with others. Watch the full explanation below.

This article originally appeared in April.

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Culture

Wil Wheaton gave a perfect explanation of how to separate problematic artists from their art

A truly thoughtful response.

Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

Wil Wheaton speaking to an audience at 2019 Wondercon.

When you find out an actor whose work you enjoy is blatantly racist and anti-semitic in real life, does that realization ruin every movie they've been a part of?

What about an author who has expressed harmful opinions about a marginalized group? What about a smart, witty comedian who turns out to be a serial sexual assaulter? Where do you draw the line between a creator and their creation? As someone with his feet in both worlds, actor Wil Wheaton weighed in on that question and offered a refreshingly reasonable perspective.

"Question: I have more of an opinion question for you. When fans of things hear about misconduct happening on sets/behind-the-scenes are they allowed to still enjoy the thing? Or should it be boycotted completely? Example: I've been a major fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer since I was a teenager and it was currently airing. I really nerded out on it and when I lost my Dad at age 16 'The Body' episode had me in such cathartic tears. Now we know about Joss Whedon. I haven't rewatched a single episode since his behavior came to light. As a fan, do I respectfully have to just box that away? Is it disrespectful of the actors that went through it to knowingly keep watching?"

And Wheaton offered this response, which he shared :

" Answer: I have been precisely where you are, right now. In fact, we were just talking about this a few days ago, as it relates to a guy who wrote a ton of music that was PROFOUND to me when I was a teenager. He wrote about being lonely and feeling unloved, and all the things I was feeling as a teenager.

He grew up to be a reprehensible bigot, and for years I couldn't listen to one of the most important bands in my life anymore.

But this week, someone pointed out that he was one member of a group that all worked together to make that thing that was so important to me. And the person he was when he wrote those lyrics is not the person he is today. And the person I was when I heard those lyrics doesn't deserve to be shoved into a box and put away, because that guy is a shit.

This is a long way of saying that Joss sure turned out to be garbage. Because of who my friends are, I know stuff that isn't in the public, and it's pretty horrible. He's just not a good person, and apparently never was a good person.

BUT! Buffy is more than him. It's all the actors and crew who made it. It's all the writers who aren't Joss. Joss is part of it, sure, and some of the episodes he wrote are terrific.

At least one of the episodes he wrote was deeply meaningful to you at a moment in your life when you'd experienced a loss I can only imagine. The person you are now, and the 16 year-old you were who just lost their dad, are more important than the piece of shit Joss Whedon revealed himself to be.

His bad behavior is on him. He has to live with it, and the consequences of it.


Wil Wheaton | Wil Wheaton speaking at the 2012 Phoenix Comic… | Flickrwww.flickr.com

16-year-old you, who just lost their dad, shouldn't have to think about what a shit Joss Whedon is for even a second. That kid, and you, deserve to have that place to revisit when you need to go there.

I can't speak for the other actors, even the ones I know. But I will tell you, as an abuse survivor myself who never wanted to be in front of the camera when he was a kid: it's really okay for you to enjoy the work. The work is good and meaningful, and if nobody is going to watch it because of what one piece of shit did two decades ago, what was it all for?

I'm not the pope of chilitown, so take this for what it's worth: I believe that when some piece of art is deeply meaningful to a person, for whatever reason, that art doesn't belong to the person who created it, if it ever did. It belongs to the person who found something meaningful in the art.

If it feels right to you to put it away and never look at it again, that's totally valid. But if it brings you comfort, or joy, or healing, or just warm familiarity to bring it out and spend some time with it, that's totally valid, too.

I've written a lot of words. I hope some of them make sense and are helpful to you."

upload.wikimedia.org



As with practically everything in this world, the question of whether art can or should be separated from the artist is complex. It involves philosophical questions about the nature of art—where it comes from and who it belongs to—as well as questions about how imperfect a person has to be for us to reject everything they create. Wheaton's response feels right, especially when we're regarding art that is collaboratively created.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Viral 'day of the week' trick will make you a hit at parties — if you can remember 14 numbers

Bet you can't resist giving it a try.

Unsplash

Every once in a while, when chatting with strangers at bars or working the room at a party, we'll run into an interesting person with a unique talent. They may be able to do a Rubiks Cube in just a few seconds, lick their elbow, or show off their double-jointed thumb. Silly icebreakers are an amazing tool to have in your back pocket when schmoozing with people you don't know well — especially if you're not naturally great at small talk — so I'm always fascinated when I come across a new one.

Sometimes, you'll meet someone who asks what your birthday is and then can immediately tell you what day of the week you were born. Judging by viral X posts and never-ending Reddit threads on the topic, people never cease to be astounded by this skill.

With holiday parties galore and New Years celebrations just around the corner, you too can learn this trick and wow your friends and family! You just need to be able to remember 14 numbers, and do a little bit of mental arithmetic.

Here's how to know exactly what day of the week any given date falls on.

calendar on computer Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

There are a lot of different methods for this popular trick, but here's the basic approach according to Farmer's Almanac. Figures the farmers would have figured this one out first!

Let's say we want to know what day Christmas 2025 will be. We'll use December 25, 2025 as an example.

1. Take the last two digits of the year (2025 = 25)

2. Divide by four, discard any remainder, and add it to the original two digits (25/4 = 6, 6+25=31)

3. Add the day of the month (31+25=56)

4. Add the Month Key Number — this is where a little memorization comes in. Each month of the year has a corresponding value for the formula, with January and February having alternate values if it's a leap year. Don't panic, it's only 14 numbers to remember!


January = 1 (0 if leap)July = 0
February = 4 (3 if leap)August = 3
March = 4September = 6
April = 0
October = 1
May = 2November = 4
June = 5December = 6

So for December, we'll add 6 (56+6=62)

5. Modify your sum for the century. If you're looking for a date from 2000-2099, subtract 1 from your total here. Dates from 1900-1999 don't require any modification. 1800s get +2 and 1753-1799 gets +4. Weirdly, this trick doesn't work for dates before 1753.

Don't forget this step! For our example, 2025 gets a minus one. (62-1=61)

(When it comes to any dates in the year 3000... I wouldn't worry about it.)

6. Divide by 7 and determine the remainder. The remainder is your day of the week, with 0 being Saturday, 1 being Sunday, 2 being Monday and so on.

61/7 = 8 with a remainder of 5. 5 is Thursday, so our formula tells us that Christmas 2025 will fall on a Thursday.

Let's check the calendar for 2025 and see how we did:

Google Calendar

We nailed it! Christmas in 2025 will be on a Thursday, and it only took 6 steps to figure it out!

The shortform formula for reference is:

Day of the Week = The remainder of (2 year digits+(2 year digits/4)+Month Key+Day+Century Modifier) / 7

Admittedly, this will take a little practice to do in your head (especially after a glass or two of champagne.) But it will be worth the effort if you can master it.

People who can rattle these dates off without a second thought have probably put a lot of time into memorizing and practicing, or they just have exceptional brains.

There are only 14 possible calendars: one for a year beginning on each day of the week, and alternate versions for leap years. So with enough reps, you can definitely start to get the hang of this and get a feel for how the different calendars lay themselves out.

This is an especially cool trick and a good icebreaker because it comes with the added bonus of allowing you to get to know other people. You can ask about birthdays, anniversaries, or other special days in their lives and wow them with your mental math, afterward finding yourself in a great and genuine conversation.

That's the secret behind a good party trick, and why we all love them so much. Sure, some people do them for the attention, but the real ones learn little tricks and games to better connect with people in social situations. A surprising talent or skill is so much better at breaking down walls of polite but stiff conversation and getting you right to genuine, deeper interactions.

As an introvert, when I was younger I gravitated toward magic tricks and card tricks. Some of my favorites to this day are the dumb, easy ones that almost anyone can learn! Because at their core, they're just a fun way to break the ice and laugh with new people.

Give the day of the week trick a try at your next gathering and you'll soon find yourself in all kinds of fascinating discussions about great dates in history, what the future will be like, and important moments in people's lives. Plus, people will think you're a genius, which isn't a terrible side effect.

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